The PVA Teachers are always excited to meet our new applicants and we want you to know that our auditions and interviews are supportive and friendly environments. We want you to feel at home when you enter our school and classrooms. Feeling excited and nervous for this process is normal! We see that you made a decision to challenge yourself in high school and we believe that creativity takes courage, and commend you for starting that journey with us.
Successful PVA Students are…
- Open-minded & Knowledgeable
- Creative Risk-takers & Original Thinkers
- Communicators & Reflective
- Balanced & Organized
- Students who want to grow, stretch, and invest in their learning potential
Your learning with us begins in the audition and/or interview with PVA teachers. Arriving prepared and ready to showcase who you truly are and what you want from this specialized program is the first learning curve of many. Please ensure that you take a good amount of time to prepare for your audition and/or interview. We do not invite students into the program solely based on their skillset or talent. We believe in the whole person, which means that how you speak about what you hope to learn, what you hope to contribute to our community, and why you love learning in your area of the arts is equally as important to us as what you showcase.
Preparation
PVA Music: Strings applicants will be required to sign up for one (1) Audition/Interview time.
Applicants Parents/Guardians are not expected to attend the audition portion, but are welcome to sit outside during the audition and review materials related to our school and program while they wait.
Orchestral Strings: for your audition please download attached sheet music
- Prepare one scale. Scales should be:
- 2 or 3 octaves
- Either Major, Melodic Minor, or Harmonic Minor
- Played in half notes with vibrato, then in quarter notes, then in eighth notes. You may choose to use a metronome for this or not. Suggested metronome marking is 80.
- Play through the Dominant Etude (attached). Tempo for this etude should be at 70 for the quarter note.
- Perform a 1 minute solo that demonstrates your ability on your instrument and your musicality. This can be a portion of a larger work.
Strings Ensembles
PVA Strings students will be expected to enrol in a full year timetabled music course for Strings musicians.
Outside of this requirement, Strings students should also plan to be enrolled in Strings Orchestra, which practices outside of the timetabled schedule, before or after school, and is a credited course for 5 credits at the 15-25-35 level.
AP Music Theory is an additional course that PVA Music students can choose to take outside of the timetabled schedule for 1 of their 3 years with us in high school.